Chyten tutoring/test prep moves closer to Wellesley schools

July 26, 2017 by bbrown Leave a Comment

Chyten Educational Service, which has been offering tutoring, test prep and college counseling services in Wellesley for the past 12 years, has moved its location closer to Wellesley Middle School and Wellesley High, within walking distance of both.

Previously, situated on Forest Street, Chyten is now at 462 Washington St., near Pine Straw. The educational services business welcomes potential clients to swing by for free consultations.

Chyten has been in business since 1984 and has other locations in Andover, Lexington and Newton.

Wellesley construction update: Kingsbury Street/Rte. 9 intersection

July 25, 2017 by bbrown Leave a Comment

The hardest part of getting through Wellesley Middle School for our family involved me, after dropping off the kids, having to make that right on Rte. 9 East from Kingsbury Street, then shifting into the left lane to U-turn onto Rte. 9 West to get to work (OK, maybe my kids have a different perspective on the WMS years).

So it’s good to see the Massachusetts Department of Transportation going to work this summer on the Kingsbury Street/Rte. 9 intersection, which is being reworked as part of a broader MassDOT effort to improve Rte. 9 (also known as Worcester Street in these parts).

Kingsbury Street Rte 9 construction Wellesley This intersection project was a topic of discussion heading into last year’s Town Meeting (article 26), where $600,000 in funding was approved. The discussion going into the meeting (including public forums in March) was whether to create a T-shaped intersection at the junction of Kingsbury and Rte. 9 (Option 1), or add traffic signals to the U-turns nearby the intersection on both the east- and west-bound sides of Rte. 9 (Option 2). Option 2, which is designed to make it safer for drivers to wait in line to make U-turns, won out. You can really dive into the plans here.

MassDOT says the signal installations are expected to be completed this year, while resurfacing of Rte. 9 won’t be finished until 2018.

Free Composers Conference concerts galore this week in Wellesley

July 24, 2017 by admin Leave a Comment

The annual Composers Conference is once again in Wellesley this summer, and a slew of free concerts are being presented at a couple of Wellesley College venues that are open to the public.

The conference offers emerging composers, professional musicians, amateur chamber players, and conservatory-level instrumentalists and singers the opportunity to come together as colleagues, audience, teachers and students.

Monday, July 24 Jewett Auditorium 7:30pm
Chamber Music Workshop Artists-in-Residence
Works by Michael Brown and Dvořák

Tuesday, July 25 Jewett Auditorium 8:15pm
Contemporary Performance Institute
Works by Ligeti, Chasalow, Mackey, Hartke, Carter

Wednesday, July 26 Jewett Auditorium 8:00pm
Conference Ensemble
Works by Composer Fellows Jonathan Booker, Shawn Jaeger, Bret Bohman
Other Works TBA

Thursday, July 27 Jewett Auditorium 8:00pm
Conference Ensemble
Works by Yu-Hui Chang, Guest Composer

Friday, July 28 7:30pm Pendleton Grand Music Hall 7:30pm
Contemporary Performance Institute
Works by Foss, Takemitsu, Fulmer, Berio, Schoenberg

Saturday, July 29 Jewett Auditorium 8:00pm
Works by Composer Fellows Camilo Mendez, Agustín Calebrese
Other Works TBA

Outdoor screening of Ponyo at Wellesley College’s Davis Museum, July 27

July 24, 2017 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

One of the great pleasures of summer in Wellesley is the Wellesley College Davis Museum‘s family-friendly Outdoor Summer Film series. Picture you and your family, outside on the Davis Plaza on a warm summer evening in a relaxed atmosphere where nobody raises and eyebrow if the little ones get antsy. Sounds like summer heaven to me. Included in the festivities will be art activities, tours of the galleries, and extended museum hours. There’s free popcorn for the kids, and free beer for parents, so there’s just no way you can go wrong here.

Museum open until 7 p.m.
Art activities from 7-8 p.m.
Screenings start at 8 p.m.

Thursday, July 27, Ponyo — During a forbidden excursion to see the surface world, a goldfish princess encounters a human boy named Sosuke, who gives her the name Ponyo. Ponyo longs to become human, and as her friendship with Sosuke grows, she becomes more humanlike.

Wellesley ramping up new, user-friendly Town website

July 23, 2017 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

The Town of Wellesley is debuting a new Town website (www.wellesleyma.gov) in the coming weeks. Wellesley has partnered with CivicPlus to bring a fresh new look and user-friendly design to the site, which will be live by August 7. CivicPlus has built more than 2000 government websites across the country, including many recent winners of the MA Municipal Association’s annual website awards.

During the past nine months, a representative working group of Town managers researched current municipal website best practices and listened to feedback from public meetings on the Unified Plan. The group analyzed statistics on hits, searches, and downloads from our current Town website, and worked with the team at CivicPlus to build a site that is expected to be much easier to use and more intuitive to navigate. More specifically, the new site:

Provides quick access to the most frequently requested services and information
Aggregates agendas / minutes for most Town Boards and Committees on a single page
Is built with a mobile-friendly responsive design
Offers a personalized user experience, allowing you to create an account and engage only in information you care about

What you need to know…

The Town’s main web address (www.wellesleyma.gov) will not change, but you may need to update existing bookmarks to interior pages in your browser’s settings.
If you are a current subscriber to one of our website’s active news lists (www.wellesleyma.gov/subscriber), we suggest that you set your spam blocker to allow for mail from [email protected]. Once the new site goes “live”, we encourage you to create an account and explore the wider variety of available subscription options.
Departmental mailing lists (maintained by the NRC, COA, and others) will migrate to the CivicPlus platform over the next few months. Current subscribers to these lists will be contacted separately with specifics.
Emergency, traffic, and utility alerts will continue to be sent separately by the Wellesley Police Department, and you can sign up for these at www.wellesleypolice.com.

A “refreshed” website is an important step in the Town’s efforts to deliver the best available online municipal services and to increase transparency. Coming soon in FY18, Town managers will work with State officials to develop a Citizen Engagement Communications Plan, and will explore options to support online permit and license applications.

For questions or concerns about the new website, or to suggest new online features or functionality, please contact the Town of Wellesley Information Technology department at [email protected].